I am not convinced getting rid of Derek McInnes will solve anything at Aberdeen.
Some Dons fans have grown weary of their side’s inability to not only take control of the race for third place in the Scottish Premiership, but also fail to take advantage of Celtic being well off the pace this season.
The pressure externally has been mounting on the Dons boss, but I believe he has a good enough squad to finish ahead of Hibernian in the Premiership come the end of the season.
Derek has been in the management game long enough to know it is how you navigate your way through the rough spells which determine your fate.
Certainly two wins in 10 games is not the form expected from an Aberdeen side hoping to challenge near the top of the table and the time has come where the Dons have to start producing results again or else.
The players know it, the manager knows it, the board know it. Forget performances, football is and always has been a results business.
I have sympathy for Derek in many ways. Aberdeen coped really well when Sam Cosgrove was out injured at the start of the season with the link-up play between Ryan Hedges, Scott Wright and Marley Watkins bringing a dynamic edge to the Dons’ play.
They were playing at a really good tempo and dominating games.
But Marley’s injury in the Scottish Cup semi-final loss to Celtic is where Aberdeen’s fortunes began to take a turn for the worse. Fast forward to today and Watkins and Wright are gone, while Hedges’ season is done and dusted due to the pectoral injury he suffered in the home loss to Livingston a week ago.
With Aberdeen’s budget I’d suggest a top-four finish should be their minimum every season and they have done that throughout Derek’s tenure.
The questions I have are not for Derek, but for chairman Dave Cormack and his board of directors. What is the height of Aberdeen’s ambition? Is the top four the ceiling of your expectations from the team?
From what I’ve heard from the chairman, it sounds as if that is the expectation at the club. In that case, the manager is meeting the objectives set out and making a change at this stage becomes a far more risky proposition.
Despite consistently reaching the latter stages of the cup competitions, Aberdeen have just one trophy to show for their efforts in the shape of their League Cup win against Caley Thistle.
Those cup runs and regular Europa League campaigns have helped drive up the revenue at the club to the point Aberdeen now count on it to maintain their current level within the game.
I would have hoped at least one if not two more trophies would have been won by the Dons during Derek’s tenure, but the Aberdeen boss finds himself in charge of a club stuck between a rock and a hard place.
He is charged with the task every year of going out and finding players to help try to close the financial gap on Celtic and Rangers and make Aberdeen competitive.
The players who have come into the Dons and done well have, by and large, been lured away, leaving the manager with the task of starting over time and time again.
It’s no easy task yet the consistency of the Dons in terms of their league placings has been impressive.
This season has become arguably the biggest challenge for Derek after Sam Cosgrove and Scott McKenna were sold for a total of £5 million.
We haven’t seen much in the way of transfer fees being paid for anyone, with the £150,000 remaining of the £350,000 agreed in August for Ross McCrorie offset by Wright’s move to Rangers a week ago.
He doesn’t need me to issue a stern defence of his qualities as he is more than capable of doing that himself, but it is clear to me that Derek has recognised his forward line has not been up to it in the last three months, which is why he took such drastic action on deadline day.
Cosgrove and Curtis Main have moved on, while Bruce Anderson has joined Hamilton on loan. In their place have come Fraser Hornby and Callum Hendry, while we await the arrival of Florian Kamberi, whose loan move has been delayed due to red tape.
What I do know is Derek and his coaching staff of Tony Docherty, Paul Sheerin and Barry Robson are good football men who have worked tirelessly behind the scenes.
I think the track record of the manager in particular has earned him the right to show he can still deliver.